Good Old Days
by EmeraldDragonxo
Summary: As Yuuya prepares to leave Maiami City, Yuzu isn't quite ready to say goodbye.


**Pairings:** Yuuya x Yuzu

 **Timeline:** In their twenties?

 **Warnings:** More angst than fluff but still some fluff?

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Yu-gi-oh Arc-V

 **Authors Note:** Is there a reason for this story aside from angsty-fluff? No.

* * *

They were packing up his childhood bedroom, sorting through the things he would need at his new place and tossing items he no longer needed. Neither of them really spoke, as he was hesitant about moving in the first place – he didn't want to leave his mother alone – and she was secretly upset about where he had decided to move.

He was leaving Maiami City to hone his duelling skills and he didn't know when he'd return. _If_ he'd ever come back.

Her hands shook as she stuffed some pillows in a box and she hoped she'd calm down sooner rather than later. Even though she didn't want him to leave, she ultimately had no say in his decision and she'd prefer it if the last time they were alone was a good memory.

He was caught up flipping through an old duel pamphlet, silently reminiscing over some of the duels he won as a kid. She smiled slightly, through it didn't quite reach her eyes and she went to his closet. Pulling it open, she was mildly shocked to see it relatively barren aside from a couple of shoe boxes.

Yuzu grabbed the box on top and the bottom must have gotten sticky at one point or another in Yuuya's childhood as it stuck to the box below it and the second box's contents tumbled to the floor. Yuuya was too engrossed in the pamphlet to notice. She bent to collect the contents and noticed two, slightly torn duel mats they used as kids when they were at school or when they overused the solid vision at duel school and were banned from it for the afternoon. Yuzu held the wilted mats in her hands, thumbing the soft paper before she turned to Yuuya.

"Duel me," she said with more resolve in her voice than she actually felt.

He glanced at her over his shoulder, probably to tell her they didn't have access to a solid vision field today or that they had packing to do but when he noticed the mats in her hands, he grinned. "Sure."

They cleared a space on the floor and unfolded the dated mats. The mats left no room for Yuuya's pendulum summoning but he didn't really require it for this match. They were the mats that kids first used when they were toddlers and didn't have access to a duel disk. Perhaps they could have used their duel disks but that would have rendered the duel pointless.

Yuzu shuffled her deck by hand for the first time in a long time, watching Yuuya do the same. They sat with their legs crossed across from each other and once they were satisfied with their shuffles, set their decks on the draw area.

"I won't go easy on you," Yuuya declared, drawing his five cards.

"I was just going to say the same thing to you," Yuzu replied.

They stared at each other for a long moment, trying to decipher the other's feelings and once the moment was over, they both excitedly exclaimed, "DUEL!"

It was the strangest sensation not to see your cards materialize in front of you as you played. It was bizarre to them when their cards didn't light up when they had to return it to their hands and they actually had to use math while hand deducting life points. Yet it was just as fun as if they were using solid vision to duel.

Yuuya went to set his card down when the strangest thing that night happened. He glanced up at Yuzu and felt his stomach leap passed his heart into his throat. (Perhaps it _was_ his heart that leapt and his stomach that clenched but he honestly couldn't be sure.) She was biting her lip in concentration – something he's never seen her do – and her hair fell in her face. It wasn't pinned back.

He placed his card and without reciting to Yuzu what the card did, he said, "Yuzu -"

"What does the card do, Yuuya?" she interrupted quietly. She wouldn't look at him.

"Yuzu –"

"Don't," she whispered, brokenly and her lower lip trembled. She roughly wiped at her warm cheeks, relieved when there weren't any tears. She didn't want him to have any regrets when he reached for the future and when he left her behind.

Torn between tossing his hand aside to pull her into his arms and making her smile, Yuuya sat there, struggling between his options. Finally, he said, "Ladies and gentleman, my lovely opponent Yuzu has been such a good sport but I think it's time for our duel to reach its climax!"

She blinked back the tears forming in her eyes and grinned. "Don't think it'll be that easy!"

Yuuya winked. "I have a question for you all!" Yuuya addressed the boxes in his room loudly. "Who will win this duel?" He waited, tilting his head as if he could hear their imaginary replies and nodded thoughtfully. "I'm sorry Yuzu, it seems the audience has answered correctly. I, Sakaki Yuuya, will win this duel!"

Yuzu was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. This was the Yuuya she was head over heels for and this was the Yuuya that in a short twelve hours later would be gone.

Once the duel ended (Yuzu had actually pulled out the win but if anyone asks, it was Yuuya), the cards were put away and the mats tenderly packed back into their shoebox safe, Yuuya hugged Yuzu.

She nearly dropped her duel disk that she had picked up a moment earlier to put her deck away.

"Yuuya…"

"I'm coming back, Yuzu," he muttered in her ear. Yuzu tossed her duel disk on his bed and curled her fingers into his red t-shirt. "I was always going to come back. I mean, why wouldn't I? _You're_ here, waiting for me. And I can't keep you waiting forever."

Yuzu buried her face in his chest, remembering the days when she was taller than him but now it seemed she would never be taller than him again, even in heels. As hard as it was for her, she couldn't live in the past forever.

"You better not," she mumbled and released his shirt, smoothing out the crinkles she made with her hand. "I'll miss you, Yuuya."

He smiled down at her with the biggest grin he could muster. "I already miss you, Yuzu."

She returned his smile with as much fervor as she thought possible and hugged him again, anticipating whatever future may come their way.

* * *

 **So** … Yuuya is an interesting character to write. I chalk it up to maturity. He's such a dork – I love him. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I look forward to seeing you in the next Arc-V story I write!

~Emerald~


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